Syringe assembly



Oct. 21, 1969 e. K. BURKE 3,473,646

SYRINGE ASSEMBLY Filed April 12, 1968 INVENTOR GEORGE K. BURKE ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,473,646 SYRINGE ASSEMBLY George K. Burke, Bethlehem, Pa, assignor to Burron Medical Products, Inc., Bethlehem, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Apr. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 720,822 Int. Cl. B65d 79/ 00, 85/54; A611) 19/02 US. Cl. 206-47 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hollow barrel is opened at one end for receiving a hollow plunger carrying a piston for sliding engagement with the barrel. The hollow interior of the plunger is adapted to receive a medicament container therewithin. Holding rib means is formed within the plunger for holding a medicament container in place within the plunger. Limit stop means is also provided within the plunger for limiting the inward movement of an associated container. The entire syringe assembly is disposed within a sterile blister-type, peel-open sterile package.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to a syringe assembly of the type which is disposable and adapted for one-time use only. Syringes of this type are used in conjunction with medicament containers such as vials or arnpoules and the like formed usually of glass and having a suitable medicament disposed therewithin.

In the prior art, it has been a common practice to provide disposable or throwaway syringes in units which are completely separate and independent from any medicament container. Accordingly, the more or less fragile containers may be unprotected and subject to breakage. If it is desired to package both the syringe and the container together, the package must be suflicient to enclose both the syringe and the container which are separate from one another.

Furthermore, in the past, the syringe assembly and associated medicament container have not been associated with one another in combination with a sterile, tamperproof packaging arrangement to ensure sterility and that no one has tampered with the syringe assembly or the medicament container.

Summary of the invention In the present invention, the plunger of the syringe assembly is of hollow construction and is adapted to receive a medicament container therewithin. Means is provided within the plunger for holding the medicament container in place and for limiting the inward movement of the container within the plunger.

With the arrangement of the present invention, a substantial portion of the medicament container may be disposed within the associated plunger to thereby protect the container and to prevent breakage or damage thereof, Additionally, when the container is fitted within the hollow plunger, the associated components take up less space whereby the surrounding package may be of less dimension so as to afford a more compact arrangement.

In the present invention, the syringe assembly is enclosed within a blister-type, peel-open package which ensures sterility of the components and furthermore which provides a tamperproof arrangement so that a person utllizing the apparatus can readily determine that the structure has not been tampered with.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a top perspective view illustrating a syringe assembly of the present invention enclosed within an association package;

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FIG. 2 is a side view of the syringe assembly of the present invention partly in longitudinal cross section;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical section through a modified form of the invention.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a package indicated generally by reference numeral 10 according to the present invention. This package includes a backing member 12 which may be formed of a suitable substance such as cardboard paper or the like, and a thin layer of transparent plastic material 14 is disposed in surrounding relationship to a syringe assembly indicated generally by reference numeral 16. This type of package is generally referred to as a blister-type peel-open package well known in the art. The package may be readily opened by peeling oil the cardboard or paper backing which may have suitable perforations or patterned sealing areas formed therein to facilitate such peeling action. Thus, one can readily determine that the package has not been tampered with when the package is picked up for use. The type of package shown in the drawing is illustrative only, and it should be understood that any other type of suitable package may be used.

Referring now to FIGS. 2-4 of the invention, a first form of syringe assembly according to the present invention is illustrated. The assembly includes a barrel means indicated generally by reference numeral 20 and formed of a suitable transparent plastic substance such as poly propylene and the like. A Luer lock adapter 22 is supported on a hollow boss 23 provided at one end of the barrel means. A conventional hypodermic needle 24 is carried by the Luer lock adapter, the needle having a hub portion including a conventional Luer taper bore therewith in the usual manner.

A needle guard 26 is supported in surrounding relationship to the needle to protect the needle.

The opposite end of the barrel means includes an integral laterally extending flange portion 30, the barrel means having an open end 32 for receiving a plunger means within the barrel.

A hollow plunger means 40 is received within the barrel means, a resilient piston means 42 being carried by the inner end of the plunger means. This piston means is disposed in sliding engagement with the interior of the barrel means in the usual manner.

The plunger means has an integral laterally extending flange portion 46 formed at the outer end thereof, and a plurality of laterally extending and angularly spaced ribs 48 are provided adjacent flange portion 46 for reinforcing and rigidifying the manually engageable end portion of the plunger means. The open outer end 50 of the plunger means is adapted to receive a medicament container therewithin. A medicament container is indicated generally by reference numeral 54 and may comprise for example an ampoule of known construction including a generally cylindrical first end portion 56 and an opposite tapered end portion 58.

Limit stop means is provided on the hollow plunger means and includes a plurality of longitudinally extending inwardly projecting ribs 60 shown as being four in number in FIG. 3, these ribs terminating at points 62 as indicated on FIG. 2. It will be noted as seen in FIG. 2 that when the container 54 is inserted within the hollow interior of the plunger means, the end portion 56 of the container will engage the ends 62 of the ribs 60 to limit inward movement of the container. It is apparent that the limit stop means may take other forms such as a circumferentially extending radially inwardly projecting rib formed on the inner surface of the plunger means and disposed in the plane defined by the ends 62 of the ribs 60. Any suitable inwardly projecting means may be provided on the plunger means and disposed at a desired point along the length of the plunger means for engaging an associated container to limit inward movement thereof, and under unusual circumstances no limit stop may be necessary.

Holding means is provided in the form of a radially inwardly projecting circumferentially extending rib means 70. The inner diameter of this rib means 70 is such as to fit snugly about the outer diameter of the portion 56 of the container 54 so as to firmly hold the container in the operative position shown in FIG. 2. The plunger means is formed of a relatively resilient material such as polypropylene so that this rib means 70 will have a somewhat resilient interengagement with the associated container to ensure that the container is held in place.

It is evident that the syringe assembly may be shipped and stored in the operative position shown in FIG. 2, particularly with this over-all assembly disposed within an associated package, and when it is desired to employ the syringe, the medicament container can be readily removed and utilized. Referring now to FIG. 5, a modified form of the invention is illustrated. The components of this form of the invention are substantially identical with those shown in FIG. 2, and similar parts have been given the same reference numerals primed. In this form of the invention, the syringe assembly is employed with a medicament container indicated generally by reference numeral 80 which is of larger size than the container 54 previously described.

The container 80 includes a generally cylindrical end portion 82 which is too large to fit within the hollow interior of the plunger means 40'. The container also includes a reduced tapered end portion 84 which is adapted to fit within the plunger means.

In this form of the invention, the plunger means is provided with a radially inwardly projecting circumferentially extending rib means 90 formed integral with the in terior surface of the plunger means and disposed adjacent to the open end 50 of the plunger means. This rib means is adapted to engage the end portion 84 of the container to hold the container in place in the operative position shown in FIG. 5. It should be noted that the arrangement as shown in FIG. 5 is illustrated generally in FIG. I wherein a major portion of the medicament container may extend outwardly of the associated plunger means as opposed to the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 wherein the major portion of the medicament container is disposed within the plunger means.

I claim:

1. In combination a syringe assembly comprising a hollow barrel means open at the outer end thereof to receive plunger means therewithin, hollow plunger means slidably supported within said barrel means, piston means carried at the inner end of said hollow plunger means for sliding engagement with the interior of said barrel means, said hollow plunger means being open at the outer end thereof, a medicament container received therewithin, and having a portion thereof projecting from the open end of the plunger for readily removing the container therefrom, said hollow plunger means including holding means for holding a medicament container in place within the hollow interior thereof, said holding means comprising an integral radially inwardly projecting circumferentially extending rib means spaced inwardly from the open end of the hollow plunger and snugly receiving said container.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said hollow plunger means includes limit stop means limiting the inward movement of the medicament container, said stop means comprising radially inwardly and longitudi nally extending rib means formed integral with said hollow plunger means and having their outer ends contact ing the inner ends of the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 201,443 3/1878 Parker 128-220 1,919,811 7/1933 Stonebraker 20616.5 2,756,748 7/1956 Ferguson 128220 3,353,664 11/1967 Armentrout et al. 206--63.2

WILLIAM T. DIXSON, JR., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 128-220; 206-43, 63.2 

